Plank Road: Guadalupe: another day, another monastery

Yesterday, we had an exceptional evening with the owners of the apartment we are staying in. They are a Dutch and Brazilian couple who completely restored a building in Trujillo, in which they live and operate six apartment units. I guess one would categorise it as an aparthotel, as we get daily cleaning, as well as a great little kitchen that is well stocked with everything we need.

They served us some really flavourful snacks from the Extremadura area as well as a local wine. The conversation was most enjoyable as they lead very interesting and busy lives. They provided a lot of insight into Spanish culture, as they are also raising two kids here in Spain. As this is our last day in Extremadura, they suggested we visit Guadalupe and since there is also a nice walk into the hills outside of the town, it was perfect for us.

What is most fascinating about the landscape of Extremadura is how it changes within a very short distance from Trujillo. About an hour of driving has taken us into varying scenery, as was the situation today. The mountains near Guadalupe are not huge, but there is a lot of large pine trees as well as cork oak.

The walk started in the square in front of the absolutely huge monastery in Guadalupe, there are tours in Spanish, but we opted to walk into the countryside. Guadalupe is quite tourist oriented but there were not many people about. A market was taking place along one of the streets we had to walk down, so we had to navigate past reams of clothing, shoes, candy, fish, cheese, meat, vegetables, brick-a-brack and we even spotted some super chicken feeders which we would have snapped up if it was even remotely possible to fit them into our luggage.

The Spanish appear to have a bit of a fixation with candy, just on our street in Trujillo, there are two bulk candy shops and the market in Guadalupe had two vendors selling bulk candy as well. Our hosts confirmed that, much to their chagrin, candy is handed out to kids on a consistent basis.

Our walk took us over the Viaduct of Guadalupe, the viaduct is huge and very long. It was built in 1959 as part of a project to link the towns with a railway, but the entire project was abandoned in 1962. We then walked up a track to the Hermitage of San Blas which was built in the early 16th century; however, it has been so heavily restored, I would not consider it a historical building. It is on a pilgrim route to the monastery in Guadalupe.

Our next destination on this walk was the Hermitage of Santa Catalina, also 16th century but heavily restored. The hermitage sits at the crossroads of some old roads that led into the area, also on a pilgrimage route. It commands a good view of the valley and the mountains. We stopped here for lunch and watched the gigantic ants and slender little lizards, which would run right across our legs.

The path then headed back down to the village through a tall pine forest with the fresh scent of pine in the air. It was a sunny but cool day with a bit of wind, a fine day for a short walk.

After a café con leche in the square, we drove back to Trujillo. It is farewell to Extremadura tomorrow, as we drive to Toledo to drop the car and then we will take the high speed train to Madrid, and spend a couple of nights there.

Guadalupe monastery